APPLICATION OF PEDAGOGICAL CUES FOR TEACHING GRAMMAR IN TECHNICAL HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
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Application of pedagogical cues for teaching grammar in technical higher education institutions
APPLICATION OF PEDAGOGICAL CUES FOR TEACHING GRAMMAR IN
TECHNICAL HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
USO DE APOIO PEDAGÓGICO NO ENSINO DE GRAMÁTICA EM UNIVERSIDADE
TÉCNICA
APLICACIÓN DE APOYOS PEDAGÓGICOS PARA ENSEÑAR GRAMÁTICA EN
CENTROS DOCENTES SUPERIORES TÉCNICOS
Elena I. CHIRKOVA1
Elena G. CHERNOVETS2
Elena M. ZORINA3
ABSTRACT: The purpose of the paper is to prove the effectiveness of using pedagogical
cues in the form of comic strips, NLP graphics and color when learning the grammar of the
English language. The experiment presented in the research (in which 57 students from 17 to
25 years of age participated) proved that grammar rules are comprehended easier, faster, and
more effectively if visual cues are used when memorizing the material. A methodology for
teaching grammar with the use of comic books was developed as well as the methodological
materials for teaching grammar to students of technical higher education institutions. The
experiment confirmed that in case of applying the proposed methodology the formation of
grammatical skills is 17% faster and more effective.
KEYWORDS: Comic strip. Learning grammar. Pedagogical cues. Visualization.
RESUMO: O objetivo do artigo é mostrar a eficácia do uso de apoio pedagógico na forma
de histórias em quadrinhos, gráficos de PNL e cor ao aprender a gramática da língua
inglesa. A experiência apresentada na pesquisa (da qual participaram 57 estudantes de 17 a
25 anos de idade) provou que as regras gramaticais são compreendidas de forma mais fácil,
rápida e eficaz se o suporte visual for utilizado na memorização do material. Foi
desenvolvida uma metodologia para o ensino de gramática com o uso de quadrinhos, bem
como os materiais metodológicos para o ensino de gramática a estudantes de instituições de
ensino superior técnico. A experiência confirmou que no caso da aplicação da metodologia
proposta, a formação de habilidades gramaticais é 17% mais rápida e eficaz.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE: História em quadrinhos. Aprendendo gramática. Apoio pedagógico.
Visualização.
1
Saint-Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPBGASU), Saint Petersburg –
Russia. Professor of the Department of Foreign Languages. Doctorate in Pedagogics. ORCID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4307-7211. E-mail: chirkoff@rambler.ru
2
Saint-Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPBGASU), Saint Petersburg –
Russia. Associate Professor of the Department of Foreign Languages. Doctorate in Pedagogics. ORCID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2877-6199. E-mail: elena.chernovets@yandex.ru
3
Saint-Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPBGASU), Saint Petersburg –
Russia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9589-3678. E-mail: zorinaem@bk.ru
Rev. EntreLínguas, Araraquara, v. 7, n. esp. 2, e021009, 2021. e-ISSN: 2447-3529
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 1
Elena I. CHIRKOVA; Elena G. CHERNOVETS and Elena M. ZORINA
RESUMEN: El objetivo del trabajo es demostrar la eficacia del uso de apoyos pedagógicos
en forma de tiras cómicas, gráficos de PNL y colores en el aprendizaje de la gramática de la
lengua inglesa. El experimento presentado en la investigación (en el que participaron 57
estudiantes de 17 a 25 años) demostró que las reglas gramaticales se comprenden más fácil,
más rápido y más eficazmente si se utiliza un apoyo visual al memorizar el material. Se
desarrolló una metodología para la enseñanza de la gramática con el uso de cómics, así
como los materiales metodológicos para la enseñanza de la gramática a los estudiantes de
las instituciones de educación superior técnica. El experimento confirmó que en caso de
aplicar la metodología propuesta la formación de las habilidades gramaticales es un 17%
más rápida y eficaz.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Cómics. Aprendizaje de la gramática. Apoyo pedagógico.
Visualización.
Introduction
Assuming that students of technical colleges mostly have an analytical mindset
(technical, analytical, and mathematical mindsets are sometimes used as synonyms), one can
assert that their reflexive ability is characterized by a rigid logical structure. It is the mindset
that in many respects determines the professional activity of a person. This combination
allows one to successfully fulfill the duties, make professional achievements more significant
and promote career growth. The analysis of the questionnaires and various kinds of tests
offered to students of technical higher education institutions who chose engineering activity,
as their future profession, showed that they are able to collect facts, analyze them and build a
chain of reasoning that leads to correct conclusions or to the most probable results
(DEMCHENKO, 2018).
The analytical mindset is related to associative memory, the ability to create analogies,
the ease of working with algorithms or formulae, as well as to the ability to integrate the
information received from different areas of knowledge.
The present paper takes into account the fact that scientists refer to (VESNINA, 2018;
MALYSHEVA, 2016) that the analytical mindset allows a person to analyze in detail various
situations, presenting them as a clear holistic image. As a rule, the thinking processes of such
people occur continuously, successfully revealing the essential relationships and connections
between the various elements in any information.
Teaching grammar, which is a unity of several systems and subsystems, can be a
challenging object of study, because the grammar of each language is arranged in its own
way. For example, different languages have different grammatical categories (the category of
Rev. EntreLínguas, Araraquara, v. 7, n. esp. 2, e021009, 2021. e-ISSN: 2447-3529
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 2Application of pedagogical cues for teaching grammar in technical higher education institutions
animacy and the category of aspect that exist in Russian, are unknown to many languages, for
example English, German and French, but in these languages there is the category of article
determination (expressed by two types of articles) that does not exist in the Russian
language).
Grammar systems differ not only in grammatical notions, but also in the way these
notions are expressed. If one takes into account all these differences, then the grammatical
system of each language looks unique. And this means that it can be difficult to study. But the
difficulties can be overcome through the use of various methods, including the use of
pedagogical cues in the form of comic strips. It is easier to establish an association between
the grammatical phenomenon and the visual image (comics) for students who are able to
analyze and whose thinking process is based on the logic of reasoning, when the student can
transform information using the inference rules (grammar phenomenon ↔ picture / image /
comics ↔ concept). The result is an idea that is memorized in the form of a structure that
establishes the relationship between the symbols (in direct or figurative meaning). With
students with a logical mindset, mental processes occur continuously, successfully identifying
significant relationships and connections between various elements of information.
The modern stage of the development of teaching a foreign language in technical
higher education institutions is characterized by the search for new forms and methods aimed
at faster and more efficient learning of foreign educational material. The teaching of grammar
has always been in the focus of foreign language teachers. The question of its role and place
in the learning process is still relevant. The attitude of the methodologists to teaching
grammar has been a determining factor for the methodology of teaching foreign languages,
and, consequently, for the methods of instruction. When the grammar-translation method was
generally accepted, grammar used to be a priority, and all types of speech activity used to be
trained through grammar. The author of English grammar textbooks Tom Hutchinson argued
that “solid knowledge of grammar is paramount if students want to use the English language
creatively” (THORNBURY, 1999). This idea is repeated by the English grammar
methodologist Ur (1999): “There is no doubt that an explicit or implicit knowledge of
grammar rules is the basis for language proficiency”. According to the figurative statement of
V.M. Filatov, grammar is "a skeleton which supports all words. Speech utterances, texts ... are
a circulatory system that nourishes a living language, or a foundation on which the building
called “Foreign Language” is being erected (PORSHNEVA, 2008).
In the currently dominating communicative approach to teaching, grammar is
considered only as a means or a tool for developing speech skills and abilities. This means
Rev. EntreLínguas, Araraquara, v. 7, n. esp. 2, e021009, 2021. e-ISSN: 2447-3529
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 3Elena I. CHIRKOVA; Elena G. CHERNOVETS and Elena M. ZORINA
that grammatical phenomena are studied and assimilated as means of expressing certain ideas,
communicative intentions of the speaker and extracting information from the speech act.
However, the English methodologist Scott Thornbury (THORNBURY, 1999) singled out
seven main reasons that make it possible to put the grammatical aspect on the forefront in the
process of communicative approach to teaching a foreign language:
1) Grammar is the construction material of speech;
2) Grammar performs an organizing function;
3) The knowledge of grammar prevents from the “fossilization” (or inflexibility) of the
speech level of the students;
4) Grammar has instructive nature;
5) Grammar helps to look on language as a structure consisting of isolated
grammatical units;
6) Grammar is a system of rules;
7) Grammar helps to meet the expectations of students by making learning more
effective.
The teaching of a professionally focused foreign language (such a learning paradigm
dominates the teaching of foreign languages in technical education institutions) involves the
development and improvement of speech skills through the accumulation of an active and
passive lexical minimum, and the means for grammatical processing of linguistic material, i.e.
grammatical minimum. The main goal of education is the formation of communicative
competence of students who will be able to use a foreign language to solve problems of
professional activity and self-education. In accordance with this goal, new directions in the
teaching of grammar are being developed since the functioning of any type of speech activity
is impossible without a grammatical basis. Linguistic competence, which includes mastering
the grammar of the language being studied, is one of the most important components of
communicative competence.
The goal of learning grammar, according to Bim (1988), consists in teaching oral
speech with concentration on the content of the utterance and the recognition of the
grammatical forms while reading and listening with the focus on extracting information. To
achieve this goal it is necessary:
Rev. EntreLínguas, Araraquara, v. 7, n. esp. 2, e021009, 2021. e-ISSN: 2447-3529
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 4Application of pedagogical cues for teaching grammar in technical higher education institutions
- to consider teaching grammar in a technical education institution not as a goal of
teaching a professionally-oriented foreign language, but as a means of mastering
speech skills;
- to select the necessary and sufficient grammatical minimum, the assimilation of
which will ensure the correct grammatical processing of such types of speech activity
as speaking and writing, and, on the other hand, will guarantee comprehension when
reading and listening to texts concerning the students’ future profession.
Methodology
The problem of the method of presenting grammatical material is still very relevant.
One of the methods for teaching grammar involves the use of pedagogical cues as certain
guidelines that motivate students to concentrate their attention on the essential, eliminating the
uncertainty, which leads to the reduction of the number of mistakes. Elements of NLP
graphics (arrows, highlighting, font, color) and comics, which are closely related to
infographics in the form of using visual communication tools, can be used as such
pedagogical cues.
Developing methods and techniques of teaching grammar, it is necessary to take into
account the learning conditions, which primarily include the psychological characteristics of
the age group of students, their average age being 17-25. Students of this age are not inclined
to mechanical memorization, but try to present their thoughts in clear forms and comprehend
the material, establish various connections, analyze and synthesize new material. The teacher
has to support and develop this feature of cognitive activity of adult learners. At this stage of
their psychological development, it is very important to apply visual generalization of the
studied grammatical material in the form of diagrams, tables, figures, highlighting, graphic
elements and other ways of schematized presentation of grammar. A comic strip can be one of
such mixed (both verbal and nonverbal) pedagogical cues that help visualize the grammatical
material.
It should be pointed out that at present comics are often used at school, including a
foreign language classes (KAPUSTINA; DIKOV, 2018). Highlighting the basic idea of
information security, A.A. Kapustina and A. V. Dikov focus on the possibilities of using
comics in the practice of working with new vocabulary, when students can come up with
comic stories using the vocabulary they are studying. Schoolchildren are taught to create
comic book heroes who speak a foreign language. Thus, it is necessary to formulate their
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 5Elena I. CHIRKOVA; Elena G. CHERNOVETS and Elena M. ZORINA
thoughts in English. At the same time, students should fill out the forms of dialogues for
different comic book characters, which helps to develop the skills of dialogic communication
and studying the structure of the language in a certain context. In addition, they master the
skills of writing, reading and narrative.
Williams (2008) speaks about the importance of comics in teaching, arguing that
comics are powerful learning tools. Students and teachers can use comics to study personal
experiences in the form of stories. Wilson (2005) agrees that using comics is a way to cross
the borders between visual culture and the classroom.
Williams (2008) says that there are at least three reasons why comic books can be
useful learning tools:
1) this genre is interesting for students;
2) comics are inexpensive;
3) the vocabulary is not complex, comics are easy to read and understand (WILSON,
2005).
The most important moments in training are related to the fact that comics create
opportunities for teachers to involve students in important discussions, for example, about
visual perception, writing, history of the language, etymology of words and the content of
texts at different levels (BERKOWITZ; PACKER, 2001).
Teachers who skillfully use comics in their work provide students with many
opportunities for deconstructing these texts at several levels. This multilevel deconstruction
can include studying the history of the country of the studied language, the origin of some
word, the intention of the creator of the comics, the character of the comic book hero and the
context of what is happening, as well as finding the relationship between the words and
images of the comics.
Although words and images are elements of comic texts, the main thing in the process
of perception is reading. It is usually more convenient for students to decode (read) the visual
system of letters and words. Pairing visual images with words is an easy way to help students
develop stronger visual literacy.
Comics provide an opportunity to carefully study the way interdependent images and
words create a consistent story. As with looking at a work of art, the reader can decide where
to start and how long to look at this or that part of the comics. Students can first look at
words, read a phrase in a speech bubble, look at images, or go directly to the next page.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 6Application of pedagogical cues for teaching grammar in technical higher education institutions
The work of R. Williams confirms that comics is a powerful way for learners to
imagine the future, understand historical events, make up their own stories, develop a sense of
empathy, and decode images, matching visual keys and text.
According to R. Williams, comics is an innovative way to work with visual culture in
the audience. Comics can initiate a wide range of interdisciplinary discussions and direct
students' work on various issues. Comics is also a tool that helps teachers to work with
inactive students.
In the sources mentioned above, comics was regarded as a tool for work, first, with the
school audience for information security education and, secondly, with the student audience
in art classes. The present article is about teaching grammar to students of technical
universities using comics, combining the visual and text culture of a foreign language into a
single concept.
This special organization of teaching grammar of a foreign language transforms the
process of mastering the grammatical side of speech into a rational and meaningful one. In
addition, a significant proportion of students have a specific “taste” in education. Interesting
classes with elements of technology of edutainment (education combined with entertainment)
increase the learning motivation and help to focus on one grammar issue longer. Visual
saturation of pedagogical cues makes such classes bright, convincing and contributes to the
intensification of the learning process, influencing several types of memory at a time: visual,
auditory and emotional.
The explanation of grammatical rules must take into consideration the verbal-logical
type of thinking typical for 17-25 year old students. It means that the grammar rules should be
explained on the example of comparison of the studied and native languages. An adult learner
can logically comprehend a specific example and transfer it to similar situations, that is, the
development of grammatical phenomena occurs in an inductive way, from the particular to
the general. The explanation of the grammar material should be accompanied by exercises
containing the known lexical material in accordance with the “microtopic” concerning the
future profession.
Vitlin (1978) speaks about the need to reduce the amount of general grammar
terminology as compared with the information contained in the grammar reference books.
So, the optimal solution to all the problems discussed above can be found in the
assumption that the process of forming a foreign communicative competence in a technical
education institution should be carried out using less grammatical material than presented in
grammatical reference books, i.e., using the selected grammatical minimum.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 7Elena I. CHIRKOVA; Elena G. CHERNOVETS and Elena M. ZORINA
A different point of view is expressed by Yasyukova (2005). She argues that the
increase in training time and the use of supposedly innovative technologies did not provide
either a quality primary education or the mastering of the most complex areas of modern
knowledge (in particular, foreign languages). According to Yasyukova (2005), the main thing
in the educational process is the development of conceptual thinking, which promotes the
development of social intelligence, tolerance, forms an adequate self-esteem and positive
communicative attitudes, optimizing the sphere of communication. Conceptual thinking also
stimulates the development of various abilities (linguistic, mathematical etc.). As a result,
emotional stress is removed in the process of study, self-reliance and educational motivation
are formed. Conceptual thinking triggers the development of creativity, contributes to the
formation of positive values, legal and civic consciousness.
Children usually transform scientific knowledge into a familiar visual shape, which
cannot express and present objective scientific laws. These laws have to be simplified and the
resulting knowledge is neither objective nor scientific. Schoolchildren, and then students,
while figuratively perceiving information, continue to exist intellectually in pre-school
childhood. They are expanding the system of representations, but the ways of perception and
processing of information are not being improved.
If a child studies science and subsequently masters the methods of scientific thinking
and problem solving, then he or she gradually develops universal skills as a higher level of
abstraction or singling out a general algorithm of activity that is the same for all spheres of
knowledge (DUBROVIN, 1992). An objective analysis of the situation, the isolation of cause-
effect relationships, the forecast of the development of events is impossible without the logic
of conceptual thinking.
Universal learning activities are skills that are formed on the basis of conceptual
thinking. They are formed in the process of the study of sciences by abstracting general
analytical operations, and then used in any activity, including practical. Yasyukova (2005)
believes that the study of a foreign language must begin with a full course of grammar, the
basis of which is the formation of concepts. This is an historical process of collective learning
of objective laws of nature and society. When a person hears a definition or sees the formula
for the first time, he gets acquainted only with a shell, sound or visual image, which is
perceived as a kind of holistic impression, though there is still nothing behind it. He cannot
retell in his own words the rule he just learned, neither can he see what formulas should be
used in a given problem until he turns these visual images into concepts.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 8Application of pedagogical cues for teaching grammar in technical higher education institutions
This becomes possible only in the process of usage. When a student, while solving
problems or performing various exercises, uses formulas and rules, then he or she establishes
their connections with concepts, defines the scope of their application and specifies their
meaning. Only then symbols and words are filled with meaning. Only gradually in the process
of usage, formulas or rules, combined with personal, internal experience, will be filled with
concrete content, become understandable, and start being used by one’s own decision and
correctly, and not simply be reproduced from memory. That is why first goes the study of
conceptual grammatical material, and then its practical use.
This process was called by Vygotsky (1982; 1983) the concept development law.
When the concept develops, the essence, the inner meaning (the objective principle) that
"sprouts" (is built in as a cell) into the "conceptual grid" or the "conceptual pyramid",
abstracts from the word, definition or formula and occupies a certain place in a united
multidimensional coordinate system among equivalent, more general and more specific
concepts.
The authors of the present article share the view of Vitlin (1978) and other researchers
such as Gez et al., (1992) about the need to study less grammar material than is given in the
grammar reference books. This is due, above all, to the scarcity of study hours, traditionally
devoted in non-linguistic technical universities to foreign language classes.
Let us dwell in more detail on the methods of presenting and fixing the selected
grammar minimum. It seems rational to do this using pedagogical cues in the form of
diagrams, drawings and comics, as well as other graphic means, such as signs, geometric
shapes, highlighting, the use of different colors and fonts, and text boxes.
The use of pedagogical cues makes the learning process both cognitive and interesting.
Foreign Methodists believe that the use of such mixed cues as comics contributes to the
development of critical thinking, understanding of humor and is a trigger for the formation of
grammatical skills (OLIVERI, 2018; SPITALNIK, 2018). It is important that assignments
should be related to the topic of the lesson, and the level of tasks should be differentiated so
that they can be solved by every student. In particular, the use of mixed pedagogical cues in
the form of comics helps to solve this problem. Today’s teens who are not inclined to
attentive, thoughtful reading of grammar rules are not afraid of 2-3 lines of text illustrated
with funny pictures.
The need to take into account the fact that most young people now have so-called
“clip” thinking led to the creation of a number of grammar textbooks that lack detailed rules
and where explanations are given in the form of funny drawings and comic strips. A bright
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 9Elena I. CHIRKOVA; Elena G. CHERNOVETS and Elena M. ZORINA
example is grammar textbooks by Dubrovin (1992) and Popovets (2015) as well as the
"Happy English" textbook for schools (KLEMENTEVA; MONK, 1993). Educational comics
became an integral part of the English-speaking culture and were first used in the last century
in textbooks by Eckersley (1992). Now, they are used, for example, in "Active Grammar"
textbook (DAVIS, 2012). On the other hand, comics is an international phenomenon, as can
be seen from the example of the well-known French textbook for adult learners, "Le Nouveau
Sans Frontières" (DOMINIQUE et al., 2002), where comics goes on like a story through the
whole book.
However, in addition to printed sources, grammar in the form of comics can be also
found on the Internet, which means that learning also takes place with the help of information
and communication technologies (ICT). The most famous online tutorial - Grammarman
(Grammarman Comic: http://grammarmancomic.com) was created by an Irish English teacher
Brian Boyd. The unusual nature of this resource lies in the fact that the visual perception of
the comics is also supported by the audio.
The illustration below shows the screenshot of the main page of this resource.
Figure 1 – Screenshot of the main page of the Grammarman online resource
Source: Authors' collection
Now let’s move to the definition of the comics and its place in the learning process.
According to Anisimova (2003), “a creolized text is a complex text formation in which verbal
and non-verbal elements form one visual, structural, semantic and functional whole, aimed at
a complex impact on the addressee”. This definition helps to define comics both as a mixed
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 10Application of pedagogical cues for teaching grammar in technical higher education institutions
pedagogical cue and as a kind of creolized text. That's why one should distinguish comics
from a set of pictures illustrating the plot. It is a fact that educational motivation is higher
when working with a mixed cue (comics) than with a non-verbal cue (image).
Results
Comics can serve both as a source of grammar knowledge, and as a basis for doing
grammar exercises. For example, typical tasks might be to fill in speech bubbles, restore a
dialogue, or restore the storyline. Brian Boyd offers not only to use readymade comics, but
also to create such cues. However, he draws attention to possible negative aspects that may
arise when working with comics. For example, incomplete inclusion of all students in the
work, minimal English and simplified grammar, the wrong order of dialogical utterances. On
the other hand, in the text of the comics, such stylistic means as epithets, metonymy,
metaphorical comparisons, onomatopoeia, alliteration and repetitions, "speaking names",
phraseological units, vocabulary of various registers are widely used. Such abundance of
expressive means opens a great perspective for creativity of teachers and students.
The authors of the present paper have conducted an experiment on using comics as a
pedagogical tool for teaching grammar. The participants of the experiment were two mixed
male and female groups, one of which was a control group, and the other an experimental
group (total of 57 people).
At the first stage, a standard starting test was conducted and both groups showed
approximately equal knowledge of grammar material. Then, a new grammar topic was
delivered as a lecture to the control group without the use of pedagogical cues, while in the
experimental group working with comics was introduced. Already at the theoretical stage, the
increase in the educational motivation in the experimental group was noticeable, as the
students demonstrated less anxiety and more interest.
At the second stage, it was necessary to train the grammar material with the help of
exercises. In the control group, the exercises contained only the text with the missing spaces
that needed to be filled with appropriate grammatical forms, and in the experimental group the
exercises were also presented in the form of a comic strip with spaces inside the speech
bubbles. The experimental group did an identical amount of exercises 10% faster than the
control group and showed a 23% higher result. A survey in the experimental group showed
that the images in the comics and the relation of the plot with the images provided significant
help in completing the assignment.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 11Elena I. CHIRKOVA; Elena G. CHERNOVETS and Elena M. ZORINA
At the third stage, the trainees were asked to create an exercise on a grammatical
subject by analogy with the exercises they had performed. In the control group, the text
template limited the development of creative thinking, and the lack of vocabulary did not
allow to create high-quality works. In the experimental group, the students were offered the
option of creating a comics on paper or using a special computer program (Comic Life, Create
a Comic, Make Beliefs Comix, Creaza Cartoonist). Having artistic abilities was not essential.
All the work on the comic was conducted according to the method described by Brian Boyd
in the webinar "Using comics and superheroes to teach grammar" from Macmillan (BOYD,
2018) and using the "Write and Draw Your Own comics" tutorial (STOWELL, 2014). In
Boyd's view, there are 3 stages of the process:
• Stage 1 Getting started
− Generating the interest
− Introducing the project
• Stage 2 Initial ideas
− Research
− Feedback
− Creating the characters and their world
• Stage 3 Making the comic
− Scripting and storyboarding
− Drafting and redrafting
− Making and publishing the finished pages.
Brian Boyd also explained how to work with comic elements, such as interaction,
sound effects, thoughts, captions, text on a screen.
The illustration below shows the comic elements and their names.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 12Application of pedagogical cues for teaching grammar in technical higher education institutions
Figure 2 – The comic elements as given in the Grammarman online resource
Source: Authors' collection
The process of creating one’s own comic strip has turned into a fascinating project.
The exchange of comic books allowed the students to repeat the grammatical subject they
studied, having a variety of types and qualities of visual and verbal supports. Students
preferred to use special computer programs to create comics in order to make images look
good, and only 12% began to draw comics on paper. A survey of the members of the
experimental group showed that they liked the task and they would like to see it the form of a
creative educational contest. In addition, at the stage of feedback, all possible problems that
could arise, according to Boyd (2018), in the process of creation were discussed. The list of
problems is as follows:
• One student works, and three others just watch.
• Overly complex / “ambitious” stories.
• Excessive use of captions / bubbles.
• Unwillingness to correct the drawing.
• Use of the native language.
Rev. EntreLínguas, Araraquara, v. 7, n. esp. 2, e021009, 2021. e-ISSN: 2447-3529
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 13Elena I. CHIRKOVA; Elena G. CHERNOVETS and Elena M. ZORINA
• Colored speech bubbles.
• Wrong order of replies in the dialogue.
• Very short text.
• Too many panels on the page.
• Simplified English.
• Drawing at the edge of the paper.
• Inappropriate content / bullying.
The fourth stage was reflection. In both groups, the same control test was carried out,
consisting of two parts: the first - a text, and the second - the comics. As a result of the
analysis, it was revealed that the total score for the test in the experimental group was 21%
higher than in the control group, while with the second part (containing the comics), both
groups coped better than with the first.
A week later the test was repeated and revealed that the actualization of knowledge in
the experimental group was 17% higher, which makes it possible to make a conclusion about
the advisability of using such a mixed medium as educational comics.
Initially, when dividing the participants into a control and experimental group, the
representative systems of the students were not taken into account, although according to the
well-known methodologist Harmer (2015) this is very important for a full-fledged educational
process. In Russian pedagogy it is common to divide students through the channels of
perception of information into visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners, and in the
neurolinguistic programming there is the term VAKOG, which is the acronym of 5
representative systems: Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic, Olfactory, Gustatory. Working with
the comic book helps to fully interact with students with any way of information perception.
Thus, for kinesthetic learners it is easier to work with tools not on the computer, while
auditory learners also act out the proposed dialogues or listen to the text (as on the site of
Brian Boyd). Perhaps, it was the lack of diversity of information perception channels (which
better presented in the comics) that prevented the control group from successfully solving
with the proposed tasks.
According to Murtazaeva (2012), the tools of education are the materials of the
educational process that help the teacher to organize effective instruction in a foreign
language, and the students to effectively master it. Undoubtedly, comics can be considered
not only a mixed pedagogical cue, but also a progressive means of teaching foreign grammar.
Rev. EntreLínguas, Araraquara, v. 7, n. esp. 2, e021009, 2021. e-ISSN: 2447-3529
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 14Application of pedagogical cues for teaching grammar in technical higher education institutions
Thus, comics are graphic and other images that are combined in a certain way,
designed to convey information and / or to evoke in the viewer (reader) an aesthetic response
(McCLOUD, 2016). A visual form of representation simplifies the perception of the
information, but makes it difficult to perceive a large information segment. Serving as a form
of pedagogical cues at the beginner level of studying grammar material, comics can express
and show objective language laws, which at the first stage of learning have to be simplified.
Then the used pedagogical cues should be changed or removed, so as not to become
redundant, not allowing the student to independently construct phrases, sentences, and texts in
a foreign language.
The use of pedagogical cues (first of all comics) in teaching the grammatical side of
speech serves two purposes: presentation of the grammatical form of the phenomenon being
studied and demonstrating its use in speech. Thus, the principle of communicative
methodology is realized: grammatical phenomena are studied and learned not as abstract
structures, but as means for expressing one's own ideas during the formation of speaking and
writing skills, as well as means of recognizing the grammar forms when reading and listening
to texts created by other authors.
Pedagogical cues are especially important in the study of those phenomena of the
grammar of a foreign language that do not coincide with the grammar of the Russian
language. Within the selected grammatical minimum, these cases are the use of the article, the
presence of a ramified system of grammar tenses, auxiliary verbs, constructions with non-
personal forms of verbs, the use prepositions that does not coincide in Russian and English,
and the conversion of nouns into verbs.
Since the study of grammar in a non-linguistic technical university is subordinated to
the task of forming the skills and abilities of all types of professional speech activity, this
process must be built with the focus on the selected lexical material. This leads to the use of a
limited number of pedagogical cues from modern grammar textbooks, since they are
developed on the basis of general vocabulary. It is advisable to involve students who have a
higher level of linguistic competence than others into developing pedagogical cues on the
lexical material of the language of the future profession. Such projects can also be special
grammatical educational comics created both on paper and with the help of ICT tools.
Despite the fact that in the Russian educational space there are practically no methods
of using comics and it is difficult for teachers to understand the merits and demerits of the
genre and its specifics, to say nothing of its didactic potential that has been successfully used
for many years in the educational systems of many countries of the world, the authors of the
Rev. EntreLínguas, Araraquara, v. 7, n. esp. 2, e021009, 2021. e-ISSN: 2447-3529
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 15Elena I. CHIRKOVA; Elena G. CHERNOVETS and Elena M. ZORINA
present paper believe that educational grammatical comics can become not only a popular
mixed pedagogical cue, but also a useful tool that increases the educational motivation and
speed of the formation of knowledge, skills and abilities
Conclusion
Thus, the study of grammar in a non-linguistic technical education institution should
be regarded as one of the means of forming a foreign communicative competence. The study
should be subject only to a carefully selected grammatical minimum. The use of pedagogical
cues in the study of grammar has made it possible to reduce the time for memorizing grammar
structures by 10%, to increase the motivation and activity of students, to diversify and
facilitate the learning of the grammar structures of a foreign language, as well as to contribute
to a deeper understanding of the grammatical phenomenon studied, as shown by the
experiment. This effect was achieved by the use of the visualization method in the form of
comics, elements of NLP graphics and color. The application of the method described in the
article made it possible for students to develop strong grammar skills serving the
communicative purposes of instruction.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: We express our gratitude to the top management of Saint-
Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering and personally to the vice-
president for academic affairs, D.Sc. (Pedagogy), professor I.R. Lugovskaya, head of the
Department of Foreign Languages, Cand. Sc. (Pedagogy), associate professor M.V. Protsuto
for support and assistance in the work, as well as to all the students who took part in the
experiment.
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Application of pedagogical cues for teaching grammar in technical higher education institutions How to reference this article CHIRKOVA, E. I.; CHERNOVETS, E. G.; ZORINA, E. M. Application of pedagogical cues for teaching grammar in technical higher education institutions. Rev. EntreLínguas, Araraquara, v. 7, n. esp. 2, e021009, 2021. e-ISSN: 2447-3529. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 Submitted: 05/01/2021 Required revisions: 26/02/2021 Approved: 24/03/2021 Published: 01/06/2021 Rev. EntreLínguas, Araraquara, v. 7, n. esp. 2, e021009, 2021. e-ISSN: 2447-3529 DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v7iesp.2.15135 19
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